The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-03
THE BAY STREET DEAL.
BUSINESS MEMS VIEWS IN REGARD
TO THE SALE.

~ A@I o~AASN1"
a Question as to Its Legality-An In
junction Talked of-Fire Insurance
Men to Increase the Rates of Insur-
ance If the Street is .Narrowed-The
Purchasers Plans to Improve the
Property.
The merchants and property owners of
Bay street are very much exercised over the
action of the City Council in consuming to
the sale Of part of Bay street as a COM
promise with Wilcox, Gibbs & Co and tho
executors of the Waldburg estate.
The matter was the subject Of general
talk yesterday, and some rather severe COM
ments We're made on the course the Council
has pursued. The Legislature, it is true,
will have to confirm the sale before it can
take effect, and no doubt there will be
good deal of work done on both sides in en-
deavoring to influence that body if the sale
goes before it for confirmation, which to
some is a matter of doubt, as several promi-
nent Bay street men are already talking of
asking the court to issue an Injunction to
restrain the Council from making the sale.
No steps in that direction, however, have
yet been taken.
OPINIONS OF BAY STREET MEN.
Mr. C.. H. Dorsett was asked what he
Thought of the sale and he replied that he is
not a lawyer, but in his opinion the Coun-
Gil had no right to make it. Bay street is a
part of the public domain, and the Council
could no more sell it than it could sell any
other street. He did not know what had
influenced the city authorities in consenting
to the proposition or what their idea could
~ be. If they simply wanted to make $500
X for the city he thought that a poor way to
s do it.
4 The argument of the purchasers was that
& the blocks are so shallow that merchants
s cannot get stores deep enough to hold their
HI stock; that they will build large, deep stores
snd fine buildings and increase the amount
Il of taxable property, besides adding to the
s appearance of the street and making it at
traotive to strangers instead of repulsiyved
ST is now. RI
IA But said Mr. Dorsett a county. has
conditions attached to tblate quarry near
p nothing TO compel theuing out some very
buildings now of slate.
,i1d uuno ~ Purcell is waiting orders from
tbosa :, 5rdon before going to Aiken for
ss.sSkwood He will be tried next week for
forgery on three indictments.
jose Addy, of Hollowville, had his safe
blown open Wednesday night. Fortunately
Mr. Addy had carried all the money home
that day. Dynamite was used
Two Notaries Public were commissioned
Monday. Isham Vest for the 974th district
of Dade county, and B. NJ Evans for the
l269th district of Richmond county.
The District Conference of the Macon
district of the Methodist church convened
at Hawkinsville on Tuesday Last. Rev. j.
w. Domingos preached the opening sermon.
Mr.. Camp, the Secretary and Treasurer of
the Benevolent Association of Columbus
"a that tho f,orq,ia of fha
now numbers la, and is increasinPto give
day. dne railroad
1t is reported that the nsoe built to con.
s'Dock" Gray near Fesss' above and be-
been shot by some but even granting
<for him. His Ltention the Council got no
swamp. aid one merchant, instead of
Two ,s-zl exchange of property, the city
taxessae lots in front of the buildings for
aavJ00. How does it know that when the
buildings are moved up, and 1t wants to use
the property vacated, that it will not be held
for S50,000s Then, too what is the use of
elling one block and erecting houses there,
only to make the street line Jagged and spoil
its appearance Unless all the buildings are
moved forward it will do no good to move
one block.
- THE INSURANCE QUESTION.
A fire insurance agent made statement
hat puts another phase on the deal He
1Rid that if the width of Bay street is lessen
ii it will increase the fire hazard of the city
md the rates of insurance will be advanced.
Even now Bay street is not too wide, for if
n vessel above the city should catch fire on
"a ebb tide, or one below on a food tide, it
Nould sweep. around the crescent and set
probably half a dozen others, and the fire
department would not be able to cope with
n With the present width the flames might
weep across Bay street. but if it was mar
Vowed to anything like, say 100 feet, the
danger would be many times greater.
Some of the Bay street men are consider
ing tine ACCESSIBILITY of calling meeting of
those interested, but the matter mas as yet
taken no definite shape.
The purchasers propose to erect block of
handsome buildings on the site for business
purposes. Asgood many look upon this in
the light of an improvement, and they believa
! that the city has done wisely in disposing
of the useless and unoccupied space so that
It viii substantially build up and the part
of the street will be improved and beauti-
: fed. There are a large number who take
this view of the deal and who believes that
it is a wise move on the part OF the city to
dispose of the property as it has done.